I really like to read www.stretcher.com.
I handle the finances. But I wish my husband would get 'on board' with me. He doesn't pay ANY attention.
The thing that bothers me most about our expenditures is energy bills. I am concocting ways to get them down. I think some ideas are:
1)Well water
2)Tulikivi wood-burning fireplace
3)Rinnai water heating system
Sadly, we have none of these. Our energy bills are killing us at $500 a month. And this is with us being cold in winter and warm in summer. The gas bill is the worst.
I would like to build a new energy-efficient house with all of the above.
Amen!!! Our house is 113 years old. Once upon a time, I'm sure it was energy efficient. Its a good, solid house. Age has taken it toll on the windows and doors, mostly. We've had almost all of the windows replaced in the last 18 months. Total cost for that is around $10,000. It has made a difference in our energy consumption; unfortunately, since gas prices went up, we're not seeing any savings yet. I'm glad its warmer now...our electricity bills are a lot less than our gas bills.
This was our first year dealing with oil for our heat........I've always had natural gas in the past.
Except for having to remember that it has to be delivered (we had one very cold weekend with no heat!!!) it has been an amazing eye openner.
Our former $400-500 a month utility bills have dropped to less than $200 a month.
We had a well dug for outside watering. It cost us 700.00. Our water bills were 295.00 for the summer quarter (and our yard looked like crap anyway), so we have made it up in two seasons.
Not only does it cost us tons less to water, but our lawn has majorly improved because of the natural minerals going on it.
Just make sure to never wash your car with the water. Our neighbor has a well and during watering, the spray hit their flagpole. They had to replace it because of the rust.
Re: Wells
Economical depending on where you live. My family on the Eastern Shore of Maryland have wells that seemingly last forever and are shallow to dig. I'm in the New Mexico mountains where 300-600 feet is not unusual (at $18-20 per foot to drill and case), and seem to last 10-15 years. Plus the flow rate can vary between 1-15 gallons a minute.